2023-05-02 07:02:02
JERUSALEM (AP) — A well-known Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli custody on Tuesday following nearly three months on a hunger strike, the Israeli penal service announced, amid already escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
Khader Adnan, a leader of the Islamic Jihad armed group, is the first Palestinian prisoner to die since inmates began lengthy hunger strikes some ten years ago. His death raised the risk of further violence between Israel and Palestinian armed groups amid increased fighting in the West Bank.
Shortly following his death was announced, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a round of rockets into southern Israel. The Palestinians called a general strike in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and protests were expected later in the day.
For years Palestinian prisoners have gone on long hunger strikes to protest their detentions and to demand concessions from Israel. The tactic has become a last resort resistance once morest what Palestinians see as unjust imprisonment. Prisoners often become dangerously ill by refusing meals, but deaths are rare.
Palestinian prisoners are regarded as national heroes and any perceived threat once morest them while in detention can trigger tensions or violence. Israel often gives in to demands to release prisoners or reduce their sentences following life-threatening hunger strikes.
Adnan, 45, began fasting shortly following his arrest on February 5.
He had gone on hunger strike several times following previous arrests. In 2015 he went on a 55-day hunger strike to protest his administrative detention, a formula that allows suspects to be held indefinitely without charge or trial.
In recent years, a number of Palestinians have gone on lengthy hunger strikes in protest of their administrative detention. In most cases, Israel ended up releasing them when their health deteriorated significantly. None have died in custody, but many have suffered irreparable neurological damage.
The Israeli prison service said that on this occasion, Adnan was accused of “participation in terrorist activities” but had refused medical treatment while the legal process progressed. On Tuesday morning he was found unconscious in his cell and taken to a hospital, where he was certified dead, the prison service said.
Palestinian groups called a general strike in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and cities across the West Bank on Tuesday. Schools and businesses closed on a day of “general mourning,” according to organizers.
For its part, the Israeli army said missiles fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip had landed harmlessly in open spaces. The Islamic Jihad group said in a statement that “our fight continues and it will not stop.”
Israel waged an 11-day war with Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Islamic Jihad, in May 2021.
In the West Bank, where violence has spiked in the past year, Israeli officials said an Israeli man had suffered minor injuries in an alleged Palestinian shooting attack.
Israel now has some 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, the highest number since 2003, according to the Israeli human rights group HaMoked.
That number has grown in the past year, with Israeli raids almost every night to make arrests in the West Bank following a series of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel in early 2022.
Israel claims the controversial tactic helps authorities thwart attacks and detain dangerous militants without releasing incriminating material for security reasons. Palestinians and rights groups say the system is widely abused and that the practice impedes due process, as the secret nature of the evidence makes it impossible for administrative detainees or their lawyers to raise a legal defence.
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